Monday, September 10, 2012

Where I Run: Leslie Nielson

Nostalgia post today for those of you who watched TV (specifically Disney) in 1959 and 1960.

Yesterday morning I ran my beloved Pig Farm 10 miler. Photo above shows one of the road signs along that route that triggered me (actually it takes very little to trigger me).

The pig farm has been gone for decades now but I still call the route that, because it dates back to my formative years of running, long before I discovered the magic of trail running.

Anyway, while I was running I was passed by Leslie Nielson. Passed because--unfairly, in my estimation, he was on horseback--and I was on foot. After I finished the run I protested loudly to the bride.

I gotta check more into local place names. After all, somebody, sometime, had to name a road or a village; such a decision should not have been taken lightly. Its' fun to try to discover the original intent.

For those of you who need more info about the photo immediately above, here you go:

In the 1950s and 1960s, the Disney television show often featured
serialized stories of great Americans. People who had helped to shape the nation
during its early days. Or perhaps people who had overcome some adversity. One
such American was General Francis Marion.

Francis Marion, better known as the Swamp Fox, helped to turn the
tide of the Revolutionary War. His unconventional fighting tactics included
hiding in the Carolina swamps and attacking the British as they marched in
formation. Because of this, his opponents accused him of abandoning the
gentlemanly ways of fighting, which consisted of meeting your enemy face to
face. Because Marion and his men knew the swamps so well, the British never
could find him or anticipate his attacks.

Disney's version kept the main points of history, although perhaps
presenting a somewhat sanitized view of things. The British were under the
command of General Cornwallis and Colonel Tarleton. Also serving as villains
were the Tories, those colonists who were still loyal to British rule. Marion
was helped in his fight by his fiancee, Mary Videau, and her parents. The Videau
family posed as Tories and then passed information along to Marion and his
men.

Leslie Nielsen starred as General Marion, long before Nielsen's
days as Frank Drebin in the Police Squad television show and the Naked
Gun movies. The series also featured such Disney regulars as J. Pat O'Malley
and Slim Pickens. Hal Stalmaster, from Disney's movie of Johnny Tremain
appeared in the series, as did Tim Considine, who had previously appeared as
Spin on in the Spin and Marty serials on the Mickey Mouse Club and later
appeared as Mike Douglas in My Three Sons.

Disney obviously had high hopes of the Swamp Fox achieving the
same popularity as Davy Crockett. Here was another great American hero who had
practically reached folk hero status. Each episode featured action and intrigue.
Marion wore a fox tail on his hat, and his men wore feathers on theirs. And he
even had a catchy theme song, with words by Lew Foster and music by Buddy Baker.
But for whatever reason, the Swamp Fox didn't quite catch on as the King of the
Wild Frontier did. Eight episodes aired between 1959 and 1961. A single version
of the theme song was released with Leslie Nielsen providing vocals, but that
song didn't climb the charts like the Ballad of Davy Crocket did.

Even though the show may not have been as popular as its
predecessor, it was still fun to watch and made for great television. The Swamp
Fox found a whole new set of fans when the episodes were aired on the Disney
Channel in the 1980s and 1990s. Now that the Disney Channel has dropped its
Vault Disney programming block, the Swamp Fox is no longer seen. But perhaps
this Revolutionary War hero is hiding somewhere, just waiting to make another
appearance!